The Trouble with Robe Shopping
by Kharina
Summary: 5 year old Teddy prefers Quality Quidditch Supplies to Madam Malkin's, but getting there by himself is rather a different matter. However, his adventure may resurrect a relationship long buried when he meets a certain person... Finally completed :
1. Chapter 1: Teddy

**Disclaimer: **I obviously don't own HP, or I would have an awful lot more money than I do now. And write better (maybe I shouldn't put that right at the beginning... :P)

OK, enjoy!

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Teddy Lupin didn't like shopping. Well, the apothecary's wasn't too bad, and going to Quality Quidditch Supplies was fun. But as for shopping for robes... Teddy pulled a face as his grandmother commented: "That does look nice, Teddy. Shall we get that one?"

"Yes," he said quickly, desperate to avoid having to try on any more robes.

"Well, you do want to look nice for Harry's wedding, don't you?"

The five-year old narrowly avoided pulling a face. "Yes, grandma."

"Now, I just need to get something for myself, too," she said, after he had changed again and the robes had been paid for. "Wait in that chair." She and Madam Malkin disappeared off into the back of the shop, Madam Malkin carrying a depressingly large pile of robes.

Teddy soon began to fidget in his seat, looking longingly at the bright sunshine and excitingly packed street outside the shop. He glanced around. His grandmother and Madam Malkin couldn't see him. They'd be a little while... they wouldn't miss him for a little while... and he didn't think Quality Quidditch Supplies was _that_ far. Although, at the age of five, his geography skills were unpolished, as a vast understatement, Teddy didn't realise this. Perhaps he could just pop in for a few minutes. Making up his mind, Teddy rose quietly from his seat, sending a guilty glance in the direction of the back of the shop. He proceeded toward the door on tiptoe.

He could hear Madam Malkin and his grandmother chattering, so he increased the confidence of his steps. He had placed his hand on the door handle when he faced the first of many hurdles in his little adventure: how to open the door without making the little bell on the back sound.

Teddy opened the door very, very gently, and decided not to try and close it. He was sure he would make a noise if he did that. The bell tinkled a little, and Teddy froze, watching for his grandmother or Madam Malkin, but apparently neither had heard. Teddy squeezed through the narrow gap, and was free at last.

Suddenly, he realised that what had looked like an exciting scene from inside the shop was actually quite daunting for a five year old on his own. The crowds bumped into him, not really seeming to notice he was there. And he couldn't see anything but people. He quickly figured out he would be unable to find Quality Quidditch supplies by scanning the street, as he couldn't see very well in the few gaps between people that afforded him the opportunity to look at the shops.

Teddy felt scared, but then he remembered the fun things you could look at in Quality Quidditch Supplies, and decided to persevere. He headed off determinedly down the street, scanning the shops on either side when he could. However, the shifting mass of people was confusing, and he quickly became disoriented.

Teddy really began to panic when he realised he had no idea of the direction back to Madam Malkin's. He was terrified both of being unable to find it again, but also he was scared of what would happen when he did. His grandmother would be furious. He began to scurry along desperately, going wherever the tide of people took him, clearly forgetting the good advice his grandmother, Harry, cousins and pretty much everyone else had told him at one time or another: if lost, stay still until you find out where you are or someone finds you.

He began to crane his neck to look up at the faces scurrying by, but everyone seemed too preoccupied in their own dealings to notice a scared child that didn't even reach most of their hips. Teddy felt like he might be sick, his panic rising so much that he jumped when he heard a voice near his ear, rather than passing far above his head. However, his fear quickly subsided a little: the voice was warm and gentle, with a touch of concern, and the pale face framed by long blonde hair that was peering into his seemed friendly. The woman was pretty. She reminded Teddy a little of his grandmother.

"Are you lost?" The woman asked softly.

Teddy nodded, and only then did he realise he was in tears. His hair was mousy-brown, and his eyes pale blue: in his panic, he'd lost his ability to change his appearance.

"Don't worry," she said softly. Although the woman seemed concerned, she also seemed somehow happy at the situation: not that the terrified boy realised this. "Can you tell me where you need to be?"

Teddy nodded again. "Madam Malkin's." He sniffled. "My grandma's going to be really mad."

"Hush, now, she won't be, she'll just be pleased to have you back. Now, it just so happens that I need to visit Madam Malkin's myself. Perhaps we should go together?"

Teddy nodded. "Yes." He then remembered his manners. "Please."

"Take my hand, then you won't get lost again," she said gently. "Now." She straightened up from the crouching position she'd been in in order to be on Teddy's level. She began to lead him in the exactly opposite direction to the one in which he'd been running. Oops.

"What's your name?" He asked after a little while of walking in silence: he hadn't realised how far he'd managed to get from Madam Malkin's.

She looked down towards him. "Narcissa Malfoy," she replied.

"Thank you for helping me, Mrs Malfoy," Teddy repeated, parrot-like, as he had been taught to. Rather more naturally, he added: "You have a long name. Like my grandma."

"What's your name?" She asked, her eyes narrowing a little.

"Teddy." He replied.

She smiled slightly. "Teddy what?"

"Lupin," Teddy answered.

She averted her eyes from his, and he felt her fingers tighten a little around his hand. He continued to watch her closely. "And what's your grandmother's name, Teddy?"

"An-dro-me-da," Teddy said emphatically, careful to pronounce each syllable correctly.

She nodded. "Yes. I thought so." Then she smiled at him. "We're nearly there, Teddy."

He slowed his walk a little at this news. "I'm gonna be in so much trouble," he muttered apprehensively.

She laughed softly. "You know, you remind me a little of my son when he was your age."

"How old is he now?" Teddy asked.

"He's twenty-two," she replied.

"Wow, that's big," Teddy said admiringly. "Not as big as my oldest cousin, though, she's twenty-_six._ She's old."

Narcissa laughed. "I would avoid saying that to her face." A second later, she added, "here we are."

Teddy looked up to see the shop-front of Madam Malkin's in front of him. "Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome. Go on, then, your grandmother must be out of her mind with worry." Teddy's brow creased a little at her change in tone at that point. This woman almost sounded like she knew his grandmother...

Teddy's thoughts were interrupted by an angry, but mostly relieved, shout of: "Teddy!"

He felt himself being squeezed firmly, and inhaled his grandmother's reassuring scent.

"I'm sorry, grandma, I got bored waiting and..." he murmured.

"Oh, I'm just so pleased you're back... but you must NEVER do that again," she said firmly, setting him down with a glare. "It's lucky this nice lady-" his grandmother's voice cut off.

Teddy looked up to see her gaze locked with the other woman's.

"Narcissa."

"Andromeda."

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	2. Chapter 2: Andromeda

**Author Note: **Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Signed reviewers, I should have replied to all of you with the review reply feature, if not sorry if I missed you out!

Hope you enjoy!

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"That looks lovely, Mrs Tonks," Madam Malkin confirmed as her customer stepped from behind the curtain in a set of dress robes. "It could perhaps come in a little, though."

The woman, Andromeda Tonks, nodded as she looked in the mirror. "Yes, it could."

"I could do it now, if you like?"

"Please," Andromeda replied. As Madam Malkin gathered up the material with her wand, she looked around the room. It was still so similar to the place her ten-year-old self remembered, when Madam Malkin had been a young apprentice to her mother. Andromeda felt a slight pang as she let her eyes wander, remembering the people that had accompanied her before: Ted, Nymphadora, impatient as her son now was, Andromeda's own mother... and her sisters. It had been a long time since she'd let her mind linger on either of them, particularly on Bellatrix, yet her sister's youthful face swum briefly into her mind. She sighed slightly, futilely wishing it had turned out differently...

"Mrs Tonks?"

Andromeda jerked out of my reverie to find Madam Malkin watching her quizzically.

"Are you alright, dear?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, I was somewhere else."

"I just said I've finished, if you want to..." she indicated the changing room with a tilt of her head.

Andromeda nodded. As she walked back towards the curtain, she called: "Nearly finished, Teddy!"

Silence. "Teddy?" Andromeda repeated, a slight note of worry entering her voice. She turned from her intended path, walking back into the main part of the shop. She froze when she noticed the seat her grandson had been told to wait on was empty, and the door was ajar.

"He can't have gone far," came a reassuring voice from beside her shoulder.

"Teddy!" Andromeda called again, more angrily this time. Still no reply. She hurried to the door, Madam Malkin close on her heels.

Pushing it open fully, she emerged onto the street, mindless of the still unpurchased robes, and stopped short again as she saw her grandson, guilty-faced but apparently unharmed, being led towards her by a woman.

"Teddy!" She exclaimed again, joyfully and relieved this time.

At first, Andromeda was so relieved to see him that, though she registered there was a woman standing nearby, she took in no more of her appearance than that, despite having grown up with her face, familiar with its every detail. She'd been so terrified she would lose Teddy, the last family member Andromeda had left, that her relief swept over and she could look at nothing other than his face, do nothing else but hold him.

Having satisfied herself that he was really here and unharmed, and reproved him mildly for wandering off, Andromeda turned to thank the woman who had brought him back, and cut off halfway through her sentence, recognising her.

"Narcissa," Andromeda stated coldly.

"Andromeda," her sister, Narcissa, replied. There was a slightly hopeful note in her voice.

"I- thank you," Andromeda said in a monotone, indicating Teddy. She began to turn away.

"Wait!" Narcissa exclaimed.

Andromeda looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Andy..." Narcissa looked at the other desperately. "Please... can't we talk?"

"After all these years, Narcissa?"

She dropped her eyes shamefully. "I tried to make amends before now, I came to your daughter's-"

"It was still too long, Narcissa."

"I know. I'm sorry." She dropped her head, began to walk away.

Even though Andromeda felt annoyed with herself for it, seeing her sister's dejection tugged at her heart, the bond between the two still present, despite everything.

"We can talk."

Narcissa turned back, her face brightening slightly.

"But not today." Andromeda made a minute indication towards Teddy with her right hand, hoping Narcissa would understand.

She nodded.

"Why don't you come over tomorrow?" Andromeda heard herself asking, to her own surprise, and Narcissa's greater shock.

She knew Narcissa knew where to go: she'd come knocking on Andromeda's door shortly after the war ended, but Andromeda'd been in no mood to receive her then, having just lost her only child and son-in-law, and still raw from the pain of losing her husband.

Narcissa nodded, recovering from her surprise. "I will. Goodbye, Andromeda." She looked at Andromeda's grandson, smiling. "'Bye, Teddy. Don't go wandering off any more, you understand?"

He grinned: a grin that always reminded Andromeda of his mother and his namesake, his grandfather, and nodded. "I won't."

"Oh yes, he will," Andromeda said, surprised to find herself smiling.

"I don't doubt it," Narcissa said before she walked away.

Andromeda stared after her in silence for a while, lost in thought and busy berating herself for being so soft-hearted. Then she felt a little hand tug at her sleeve.

"Grandma? Aren't we going back in?"

"Yes, of course, Teddy." As he turned to go back inside, she shook her head to clear it, and followed.

After they had paid for the robes and were back in the bright sunlight of the street, Teddy spoke again.

"Who was that lady, grandma?"

Andromeda was silent for a moment, unsure what answer to give him. Finally, she said quietly "That was your great-aunt Narcissa."

"Oh." He considered for a moment. "But then why haven't I seen her before?"

Andromeda was silent for a second, wondering if there was any way she could tell the story in a way a child so young would understand. Deciding she couldn't, she settled with: "It's a long story, Teddy. Maybe when you're older." Before he could reply, she added: "Were you trying to get to Quality Quidditch Supplies, by any chance?"

He nodded guiltily.

"Maybe we'll go there now, then. Wait for me next time, though, or we won't go at all," she said, trying her best to be stern.

"I promise, grandma!" he grinned delightedly, quickening his pace and pulling her along down the street, reminding her strongly of his mother as a child.

"Walk, Teddy, don't run," she said for about the thousandth time.

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	3. Chapter 3: Narcissa

**A/N: **Ok, so I realise I haven't updated any fanfiction in a while, but I got a post-exam desire to write something and so have finally, finally, finished this little story. Don't expect much else from me though :)

_Click. Click. Click._

Narcissa shuffled the contents of her wardrobe for what felt like the thousandth time that morning, the metal hangers tapping together as she searched. Still dressed in just a slip, she glanced nervously at the clock, realising she was already five minutes late for her meeting with Andromeda.

This had been a problem since she was a child. The more nervous Narcissa was about an event, the longer she took to get ready, as the more flaws she found in her appearance that needed correcting, and the more she felt that none of her robes would do. It had been the one thing her mother disliked about her: she could remember being regularly told that Blacks should be punctual at all times.

So it was now. Narcissa knew she must hurry, and yet she could find nothing in her vast wardrobe that did not have some feature that would annoy Andromeda and that wouldn't make her over or under dressed.

"You look utterly enchanting in all of them, Narcissa."

Although she knew the voice like her own, she hadn't noticed him come in and so she still gave an involuntary start at the murmur in her ear. She turned round to meet his eyes and he smirked at her.

"Where are you going that's so special?" he asked.

"I-" Narcissa considered lying to him, but as she looked into his eyes she thought better of it. She and Lucius had never kept secrets from each other, and she'd always thought husbands and wives should be open with one another. Still, she was a little uncertain how he'd react. She reminded herself that he'd supported her, had even gone with her, when she'd wanted to attend her niece's funeral. That the time, early in her marriage, when he'd caught her excitedly telling her disowned and disgraced sister about her pregnancy when they'd happened to meet, he hadn't been angry, and had even been almost-civil to her sister in the sentence or so they exchanged.

She sighed. "I'm going to see my sister."

"Ah. And does Andromeda know you're coming?"

Narcissa nodded. "Yes, she invited me... we happened to see each other yesterday... Lucius, I haven't time to tell you-"

He held up a hand. "Not a problem." He stepped forward and moved a few of the hangers aside, stopping at a set of pale blue robes, elegant yet simple in design. He plucked them from the wardrobe and handed them to her.

She shook her head. "They're too... expensive."

He raised an eyebrow. "I think you'll find you don't own any cheap clothing, Narcissa. Put these on."

Sighing, she did so. "Andromeda will think I'm putting on airs."

Lucius laughed at that. "Narcissa, you've always had airs, Andromeda's just the one who lost them. If you crave cheap clothing then that can be arranged, of course, but I do hope you'll reconsider." He leant down to whisper in her ear. "I do rather like to spoil you."

She smiled a little, which was his intention. "Would you be so kind as to choose my shoes, Lucius? And what do you think I should do with my hair?"

"Something simple. I imagine you're already late."

She glanced at the clock again as she put on the shoes he'd passed to her. "Only by ten minutes."

He smirked. "You've surpassed yourself in punctuality, then."

"I'd have been here another half an hour without your help." She glanced at him as she swept her hair into a simple bun. "Do I take this as your approval?"

He kissed her forehead. "As long as you know this is unlikely to be pleasant. Andromeda might get quite angry... you've got your wand, haven't you?"

Narcissa laughed. "Lucius, she won't hurt me. She'll shout, probably, but I doubt she'll hex me, or at least not with anything serious. Even Bella never did that."

"As long as you're careful." She felt him watching her as she made the final adjustments to her makeup, hung a necklace around her throat and put on her cloak. "You're so beautiful."

She gave him a soft smile. It was rare for him to show his feelings so openly, but he'd been doing so more since the war ended. "You're tempting me not to go at all," she murmured softly, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

He leant down and kissed her briefly. "Off you go, Narcissa," he said, guiding her towards the door with a hand at the small of her back.

Narcissa Apparated in front of the gate to a cottage. It wasn't as small or as poor as she expected, she thought as she opened the gate. And the garden was lovely. No Malfoy Manor, of course, but she could see how it might be a home to Andy... not to her, never to her, for a start it had no ballroom... but then Andy had never been as interested in the traditional pureblood life.

Her feet crunching the gravel, Narcissa walked up the short path and up the few stone steps to the door. She took a deep breath to calm herself before knocking.

It took a while for anybody to answer, and Narcissa began to fear that Andromeda had forgotten, or planned to ignore her. But soon she opened the door with a look of surprise.

"You're only ten minutes late, Cissy!" She exclaimed, seeming a little flustered. "Don't tell me you've finally stopped taking hours to dress when you're nervous."

Narcissa gave a small smile at how well her sister still knew her. "No, I haven't. Lucius chose for me." She gave a secretive smile at his parting words to her, but then realised she had made a mistake when her sister's eyes flashed.

"Ah yes, your husband. How nice that some of us still have them."

Narcissa gasped. "Andy-"

"And so the bitching begins," came a voice from inside the house. A girl in her mid-twenties appeared, who looked enough like Andromeda's late husband for Narcissa to know she must be a relation. "Aunt Andromeda, I haven't even left yet. I agreed to take Teddy to the park. I am NOT playing peacemaker between the 'noble and most ancient' clan."

Andromeda smiled. "This is my niece, Elsa. She's a Muggle, of course." Andromeda studied me for my reaction, so I took care to smile kindly at the girl. "I expected Narcissa to be later than she was, Elsa, I'm sorry."

The Muggle girl shook her head. "No problem, Auntie, but you could at least let her get inside the door and let me get Teddy out before curses start flying. And I don't like being used in your verbal sparring either."

Andromeda looked coldly at me. "Well, it's her fault. But we don't want this discussion in front of Teddy."

I shook my head. "Of course not."

Reluctantly, Andromeda stepped back. "Come in, then."

Andromeda led the way through to a small, but cosy and well-kept, sitting room. I had little time to admire the room, however, as Teddy came racing down the stairs and hurled himself at my legs. "Auntie Narcissa!"

I laughed and picked him up. "Hello, Teddy." I was amused to see his hair was blonde today, making him look rather like a younger Draco.

"Grandma, is Auntie Narcissa coming to the park with us?"

Andromeda shook his head. "No, sweetheart, I'm not coming either. Just you and your cousin."

"Why?"

Andromeda hesitated.

"Your grandma and Aunt Narcissa have some grown-up things to talk about, sweetheart," Elsa said gently. "And grown up things are boring, aren't they, so we'll have much more fun."

Teddy grinned and his hair turned brown, like hers. "Yeah!"

"Yes," Andromeda corrected. "And don't change your hair like that when you're out with Elsa."

"You should come, Auntie," Teddy said, changing his hair back to blonde. "'Cos-"

"_Be_cause."

"Because I don't know you that well and I've already seen lots of my cousin. She can talk about grown up things with grandmama." Teddy paused and frowned. "How come I didn't know you before? Grandma said it was a long story."

Narcissa tensed. "Well, it was because your grandma and I had a fight, so we didn't want to see each other."

"Oh. But grandmama, Auntie Narcissa's nice. I don't understand."

"Come on, scoundrel," Elsa cut in quickly. "Don't you want to go play on the swings?"

As five year olds are, he was easily distracted by this. "Yeah!" Narcissa put him down and he ran off.

Once the two had left, Andromeda turned to Narcissa, who cringed a little.

"Take a seat, Narcissa, and stop looking so sorry for yourself," she said. "Tea?"

"Please."

Her sister walked away, leaving Narcissa to consider her surroundings more closely. Doing so was not pleasant. On the mantelpiece were several pictures, and Narcissa stood to go and have a closer look. The first was a picture of Ted and Andromeda, at their wedding. Save for their clothes being a little less fine, and the background containing less people and less finery, they looked remarkably and painfully like she and Lucius at her own wedding. Narcissa set the picture down gently, and looked at the next one: a young Nymphadora, blowing out three candles on a cake. Next, Nymphadora sitting with a baby Teddy in her arms and her werewolf husband beside her, beaming.

Beside this there was a photo album, held between two bookends. Curious as to why Andromeda would put an album on her mantelpiece, Narcissa carefully withdrew it and opened it. Her eyes widened to see a picture of Bella at the age of about four, cradling a bundle in her arms and looking down at the face of a baby not visible on the picture. Beside her, a two year old Andromeda was peering over at the baby as well. She could see Bella smiling and pulling faces, and watched as her own hand sneaked out from beneath the blankets and pulled at Andy's hair, earning a smile from her. Narcissa's eyes widened even further as she flicked through the album: it was full of pictures of the three of them, along with a few of Sirius and Regulus. Close to the end, she found a picture from her own wedding, carefully cut from the Daily Prophet's society pages, and it was this more than anything else that brought tears to her eyes.

"I did not say you could look at that." Her sister's voice was like ice, and Narcissa jumped, hurriedly replacing the album.

"I'm sorry."

"Sit down and have some tea." As her sister did so, Andromeda murmured: "I wasn't sure Malfoys said sorry."

"Andy... Andy, that's what I've come here to do."

Her sister passed a cup of tea to her and sighed. "I don't know if I can forgive you, Narcissa."

"I know."

Andromeda considered her. "Why are you still with him?" she said suddenly.

"Who?" Narcissa asked stupidly, not thinking that her sister could need to ask such a question. "Lucius?" She questioned incredulously.

"Yes. Why?"

"Why did you leave us for Ted?"

Andromeda glared at her. "Because I loved him. Oh, but it's not possible, is it, to love a filthy-" her sister began to say mockingly.

"Then the same. Same reason." Narcissa paused and put on her best sneer. "Oh, but it's not possible to love a Death Eater, is it, Andromeda?"

"How does it feel knowing he has blood on his hands? How did it feel, when he came home to you, knowing he'd killed and tortured?"

Narcissa looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap. "I still love him."

"Well, Bellatrix loved Voldemort-"

At this, Narcissa jumped violently.

"-and that doesn't excuse what she did, does it? She killed her own niece! Would you have done if Lucius had asked you to?"

"No!" Narcissa exclaimed.

"But you supported her! Damn you, Cissy, how could you?"

Narcissa looked up to see tears in her sister's eyes.

"I'm so jealous of you," she went on more quietly. "None of you have suffered for what you've done, and you still have your family..."

"We have suffered, Andy!" Narcissa exclaimed. "We had the Dark Lord in our house... he tortured us... he came up with so many ways to hurt us... he took Lucius' wand... and Draco, Draco's scarred for life by what happened- he's only just started to get over it, and the other night he was wandering around outside at three in the morning, staring at- at- h-his m-mark, and I couldn't comfort him-"

"How dare you," Andromeda said icily. "How nice that Draco was around last night. When I wake up at night, I'm on my own. I can hardly cry to a five year old about how his own aunt murdered his mother and probably his grandfather too..."

Narcissa shook her head. "Bella didn't kill Ted, Andy. It was Snatchers. I think it was- was over quickly."

Andromeda gave a humourless laugh. "But I'm sure if she could have killed Ted, if she'd come across him, then she would have tortured and murdered him and taken great pleasure in it. And if she'd brought him to the Manor I bet you'd have just stood and watched, like you did with Hermione Granger..."

"I didn't have a choice, Andy, if I'd stood up to her the Dark Lord would have killed us all."

"Oh, because you're worth so much more than Hermione or my Ted or my Dora, aren't you? You pathetic, traitorous little bitch! Even Bella had principles that she stuck to, however wrong they were. All you were out for was yourself!"

"And I suppose if you could have saved your daughter by letting Bella kill my son, you'd have let Nymphadora die, would you?"

"Of course I-" Andromeda broke off. "Narcissa, I-" She sighed. "I don't know what I'd do. I don't think I could make that decision. I've never been in that situation."

"I have. I wouldn't have been able to stop Bella, I wasn't even there, and if I had protested when the Dark Lord gave her the order..." Cissy broke off. "I'm sorry, Andy. What I've been through is nothing, nothing compared to what you're going through... I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost Lucius or Draco, let alone both of them. I don't know how you keep going."

Andromeda smiled slightly. "Teddy," she said simply. "That's how."

"Andromeda, I know I can't ask you to forgive me, let alone to be instantly like we were before... but I am genuinely sorry, and... can we try, Andy? Please?"

Andromeda sighed. "I-" She stopped, seemingly uncertain what to say. Then she stood and went over to the sofa where her sister was sitting. Hesitantly, she folded her in her arms and Narcissa returned the embrace eagerly. "I'll try."

They sat like that for a long time, the forgotten tea cooling on the table, both uncertain what to say to the other. How did you start a conversation after thirty years of not speaking to each other, thirty years going through so much on opposite sides of the war? It didn't seem possible to just launch back into happy conversation, and so the two sat in silence.

Eventually, Andromeda noticed something about the hand that was clutching her robes, and realised she'd found a topic of conversation that would be pleasant to both of them. "Cissy, where's your engagement ring?"

Narcissa pulled back from her sister's embrace and beamed at her, despite her teary eyes. "With Draco. He asked for it yesterday."

Andromeda smiled back. "Thought it might be that. Astoria Greengrass, yes?"

"How did you know?"

Andy's smile faded a little. "That old Rita Skeeter article. 'Perhaps the Auror Office might wish to consider checking Malfoy Manor for Amortentia'." Andromeda sneered. "Horrible woman. Whatever your family might have done, there was no need for that, to slander two people in love with each other, and it was quite early in their relationship too, wasn't it?"

Narcissa nodded. "He'd only been seeing her for a month or so when it was published, although they'd been friends for a long time before that." She sighed. "Draco was actually relieved about it: he'd been worried Skeeter'd insult Astoria a lot more than she did. She portrayed Astoria as an innocent victim seduced by some sort of devil in that article." Narcissa grit her teeth.

Andromeda nodded. "Yes, I noticed that. Mind you, it seems to be what people want to read."

"It hurt him terribly, though. Not as much as it would have done if Skeeter had slandered Astoria, but still... Skeeter was basically saying no-one could fall in love with him without the help of potions." Narcissa looked down and bit her lip. "Not to mention suggesting that he'd forced Astoria to love him, which isn't the case at all, almost the opposite, in fact. He took forever to get up the courage to be with her, because he knew something like that would happen. He's always saying she's too good for him. But Astoria was at the Manor the same morning, as soon as she saw the article, and to see them together..." Narcissa broke off and smiled. "She's exactly what he needs."

"It sounds like they love each other."

Narcissa nodded. "He hasn't decided how he'll propose to her yet, but he says he'll either do it inside our home or hers, or he'll take her to a restaurant in the Muggle world. He's started taking her out in the Muggle world a lot, where no-one knows him. They can never really relax in wizarding places, they get dirty looks at best."

"That sounds sensible," Andromeda nodded.

"If he decides to do it at a family gathering, should I tell him to issue you an invitation?"

"Oh, yes please! If he doesn't mind, that is." Andromeda smiled at her. "Thank you." A sudden thought occurred to her. "Do even Malfoy men kneel when they propose?"

Narcissa laughed. "Yes, they do... well, Lucius did."

"I can't imagine Lucius on his knees to anyone."

"Not even to me? But surely you know everybody worships _me_. How can they help it?"

Andromeda snorted. "Oh, my vain little sister."

The two were silent for a while.

"I still don't know if I can forgive you, still more if I can forgive Lucius," Andromeda began. "But I do want to try. I think you've all been punished enough for what you've done, without me hurting you as well."

Narcissa looked into her sister's eyes. "Thank you, Andy."

"Lunch?" Andromeda asked.

"Yes, please," Narcissa replied. As they walked towards the kitchen together, she added: "Will you join us at the Manor for dinner tomorrow night? I want Draco to meet you, and I could give you some better pictures of my wedding. After all, those Daily Prophet ones make my skin look all grainy, and we can't possibly have that, can we?"

Andromeda smiled, and although it seemed a little forced, there was a determination in her eyes that spoke of hope. "I'd love to."


End file.
